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Matlab unable to install R2021b: "unable to write to selected folder" in Ubuntu 20.04

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Trying to install R2021b on the system drive. Using Ubuntu 20.04. 384 Gb available. I download
matlab_R2020b_glnxa64.zip
and unzip it.
unzip matlab_R2020b_glnxa64.zip
If I run
./install
I go through the setup, select /usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b, and the installer fails, saying something like "Unable to create selected folder". If I create the folder with open (chmod 777) permissions, I get "Unable to write to selected folder".
If I instead use
sudo ./install
I'm asked for my password, and the process hangs. No graphical install window, nothing. Just an unusable terminal window. This happens in both terminator and term.
  6 Comments
Philip Wesley
Philip Wesley on 3 Jan 2022
You'll want to run MATLAB as root if you wish to install it in the default directory. However, there is a known issue where the MATLAB installer where it won't lauch as root. To get past this issue, do the following:
  • Launch Terminal
  • Type the following in the terminal to allow the root user to access the running X server:
xhost +SI:localuser:root
  • After running the command above try running the installer "sudo ./install"

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Accepted Answer

Jim Bosley
Jim Bosley on 3 Jan 2022
A bit more detail - thanks to Philip (see above) for the answer. Apparently in a terminal window you must run
xhost +SI:localuser:root
before installing. Then you should be able to run
sudo ./install
I didn't see a .desktop file created so I created my own, in /usr/share/applications. In fact I have several such files, for different matlab versions. My approach may be crude, but I have something like matlab21b.desktop containing:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=MATLAB21b
Version=2021b
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b/bin/matlab -desktop
Icon=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b/ui/install/installer_login/images/bg_global_logo.jpg
Categories=Development;Math;Science
Comment=Scientific Computing Environment
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=com-mathworks-util-PostVMInit
I use several different desktops, and don't define a symlink named matlab because if I did, which version would it run? As a last step I had to run the license manager to capture the renewal I did at the last minute in 2021...
sudo ./activate_matlab.sh
With all this, the program shows up in Launcher (click the icon in the lower left corner, type in mat and the matlab icon appears). You can also pin this to the favorites to that it's available with one click.
  5 Comments
Maciej Wozniak
Maciej Wozniak on 13 Feb 2022
some additional comments
  • ./actiavte_matlab.sh is in urs/local/matlab/YOURMATLABVERSION/bin
  • to run matlab command from the terminal you have to add the urs/local/matlab/YOURMATLABVERSION/bin to your path e.g. `export PATH=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b/bin/:$PATH`

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